ECG payment system not being outsourced to Hubtel – ECG MD denies

Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Samuel Dubik Mahama has refuted allegations that the payment system of his outfit was being outsourced to a private third-party company.

This comes after the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, John Jinapor alleged there were attempts to handover over the ECG’s payment system to Hubtel Company Limited.

“There is an attempt to hand over the ECG app, which was developed locally by ECG staff to a company called Hubtel. Today as we speak, there are Hubtel officials at ECG trying to hook their system on the app,” the lawmaker alleged.

“I’m even told that Hubtel is proposing to charge 4 percent commission. So, there is a lot of internal upheaval among some ECG staff," he indicated.

But Samuel Mahama speaking with journalists on the matter said, “ECG doesn’t have a contract with anybody called Hubtel. So, ECG has a proof of concept understanding with Hubtel and ECG hasn’t agreed on any percentages with Hubtel,”

“It is quite sad that in this day when we have the Right to Information [Law], where you can get access to information when you hear gossip, you choose to run with gossip,” the ECG boss added.

Meanwhile, the ECG has come under intense pressure over the inability of customers across the country to purchase pre-paid power from their various vending points.

The situation which has been described as a technical glitch affected many businesses, households and institutions that rely on ECG’s power distribution system.

In the wake of this, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) directed ECG to pay due compensation to customers who were significantly impacted by the recent glitch in its prepaid vending system.

The compensation is expected to cover the period between October 1 to 7, 2022

MA/FNOQ